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Chris North
Chris North was a contestant on Season 1 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 7th place. Personality When Chris first entered the competition, he was very pretentious and contemptuous towards his teammates due to his experience as an Executive Chef. Although he struggled from the start, he managed to improve his attitude, became a strong team player, and a decent cook, but his attitude came back during his fifth service, which led to his elimination. He had a short-lived running feud with teammate Jeff, due to the latter's disrespectful attitude, and developed a friendship with Elsie, and one with Michael before the latter backstabbed him by nominating him, and being responsible for his elimination. Season 1 Episode 1 The twelve contestants arrived in Hell's Kitchen and celebrated with a champagne glass and getting to know each other. After some time, Maître D’ Jean-Philippe and Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann greeted them, revealing that their first test began now. During the Signature Dish Challenge, Wendy asked if anybody was using a certain knife, which Chris said that he was. He was the eighth contestant to have his dish judged by Ramsay, and revealed to the latter that he was an Executive Chef. He served a salmon roast on a plank of cedar, and Ramsay immediately called him a "plank" himself, which meant an idiot. After tasting, Ramsay told him that his salmon was raw. He disagreed immediately as he thought it was medium-rare, but he was quickly put in his place by Ramsay who told him he had a lot to learn. After the challenge, he was placed in the red team, along with Elsie, Jimmy, Dewberry, Jeff, and Carolann. During prep, Chris explained to his teammates what a convection oven was, but showed a pretentious attitude as he mocked his teammates for having less knowledge than he did, claiming he would rather be on a team of dishwashers because they at least know how a kitchen was working. During dinner service, he was on the fish station. After he brought an overcooked salmon to the pass, Ramsay smacked it in his chest and gave him the tray of the table in his hands, which meant his team, because of him, had to redo the entire table over. However, he arrogantly felt that Ramsay will acknowledge his experience in time. After many tables left, Ramsay shut down both kitchens. His team lost the dinner service and Elsie was named "Best of the Worst". He was not nominated for elimination. Episode 2 The next day, At 5:55 AM, Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann went in the dorms with cookware and banged them together to wake up everybody, with Dewberry originally thinking it was somebody with a gun. However, Chris was the only one who did not feel to rush, taking seven minutes for putting a shirt on and brushing his teeth, before finally coming down. He was schooled by Ramsay about his laid-back behavior, as he was the last one downstairs despite being the most experienced chef, and that he had to be more of a team player. During Squid Cleaning Challenge, he cleaned 4 squids, but only one was accepted by Ramsay, who was not impressed at all. Despite this, the red team won the challenge 6-5, and was rewarded with a dinner with, and prepared by Ramsay. Before the reward, he called the win a morale booster as they needed it badly, before calling it unreal to be eating with Ramsay. During dinner service, Chris was on the dessert station. At one point, he took the role of leader by explaining to Elsie how to properly cook salmon on the grill, showing for the first-time teamwork instead of contempt towards his teammates. Despite encouraging his team, especially Dewberry who really needed it, Ramsay shut down both kitchens after one of his team's tables phoned for pizza to be deliver and Jean-Philippe was physically assaulted. The red team lost the dinner service, but he was praised by Ramsay for his impressive teamwork, was named "Best of the Worst", and was asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, Jeff told him that he was doing fine until his kidney stone problems got in the way of his performance, while Jimmy was disappointed in losing service for the second time in a row and pleaded his case to him. While he struggled with his decision on who to nominate, he knew he had to cut dead weight from the red team if they wanted to win services. Chris named Dewberry as his first nominee, and Jeff as his second, a decision with which Ramsay agreed 110%. While being dismissed, he said that there was no stopping him when he was comfortable in the kitchen. Episode 3 Before the 5 Course Meal Challenge, Chris and his team welcomed Michael as a new teammate. During the challenge, he had no faith in Jeff as the latter has not proven his stuff, and while shopping for ingredients, he got annoyed by the fact they had to stop every time for Jeff to catch up. He was the third person from the red team to have his dish judged by Ramsay, cooked the fish entrée round, and went up against Wendy. He served a dover sole with a cauliflower couscous, grilled scallions, and scallion oil. Ramsay did not like it, and said it would be something that would be served to a sick rabbit, although he arrogantly asked for a bone. He lost that round to Wendy, but the red team won the challenge after a tiebreaker at 3 each. They were rewarded with a night out with Ramsay at the bar, with drinks and a darts game. After coming back from their reward, Jimmy felt that both teams were neck in neck, but he felt that it was more, and would be surprised if the red team did not win the following service. During prep, Jeff left a hot sheet on the counter and Elsie picked it up, burning her hand in the process. That angered Chris, who told Jeff to put a towel over it, and after Elsie said not to leave something hot out that they did not know, he felt that everybody was losing their patience with Jeff. During a short break, the red team minus Jeff gathered to discuss the latter as Michael expressed concern how well they would work with someone they all shared animosity towards. Moments later, he and Jeff got in a heated argument about his behavior, dismaying Elsie as they could not afford to fall apart. Moments before opening, Jeff was still struggling to get organized when very few of his stuff was ready, so he and Michael had to help him out. During dinner service, Chris was on the garnish station. After Jeff got in an intense argument with Sous Chef Mary-Ann, he tried to calm him down, and told the former not to talk to Ramsay like that. A few hours later, he tried to get Jeff back in the game after he started to give up, without success. Jeff walked out of the kitchen, which pissed him off as that was not a cool move, and Ramsay announced to the red team that he withdrew from the competition and left, which infuriated them. Despite this, the red team rallied in a strong last effort to send most of the food out, but it was not enough, as Ramsay shut down both kitchens after tables were walking out. However, the red team was declared winners after the critics enjoyed their lamb more than the blue team's. After elimination, he called it a great day for the red team as, with Jeff gone, the distractions were gone. Episode 4 Following Jeff's departure, Chris and the red team celebrated as they thought he was more of a problem than anything else. During the Perfect Table Challenge, Ramsay told Chris not to throw the silverware onto the tables. When Jimmy did not know how the napkins were folded, he called him a big lummox. The red team lost the challenge due to making four mistakes, compared to the blue team's one, they and they were punished by cleaning and polishing all the glassware and tableware of the restaurant for the next dinner service. During the punishment, Jean-Philippe asked him to bring champagne to the blue team during their reward, but he called it a hard pill to swallow. When he arrived at the dorms, he served them champagne, and back downstairs, he told his team what the reward, making Elsie jealous as she would have loved an hour of relaxation. During prep, both Chris and Michael were disgusted by the smell of the pigeon, with the latter sarcastically thanking Ramsay for that. Thirty minutes before dinner service, the red team were forced to do their second punishment, which was to arrange every table in the dining room before the doors of the restaurant would open. After completing the punishment, the red team raced to get prep completed, and he refused to let Ramsay down that night. During dinner service, Chris was on the appetizer station. After watching Elsie panic when the first ticket arrived, he comforted her and tried to calm her down. Later, the red team showed great teamwork with him encouraging everybody and congratulated Elsie for her good job on the meat station. So, the red team were the first to complete their orders, they won the service, and he along with Michael, congratulated Elsie for her good job on the meat station. After elimination, he expressed shock that Andrew survived, before realizing that Ramsay’s decision was not an obvious one. Episode 5 Back at the dorms, Chris comforted Jessica who was already crying when her friend Mary Ellen was eliminated. He gave her a hug and told her that it was not her fault. The next day, when Ramsay asked Chris who he thought was the strongest link on the red team, he considered Michael's talent and ability, but eventually nominated himself as the strongest link. Ramsay answered by saying that he loved the way he was putting himself forward on that executive platform, referring to his executive chef position. He also named Jimmy as the weakest. Before the Pasta Making Challenge, Ramsay called Chris forward to use him as a demo on how to hang the pasta after they are done. Ramsay poured flour on his face, which made everybody laugh, and was called a handsome fucking bugger. With pasta everywhere on his body, he was forced to sit out to even the teams at three members each. The red team won the challenge, managing to get 2.45 lbs of acceptable pasta, compared to the blue team's 2.41. They were rewarded with a nice tour of gondola, with wine and cheese. During the reward, he and Michael joked about Ralph being covered in flour by now. The night before dinner service, Chris had a talk with Michael before they got to sleep. He told Michael he would love to get to the finals against him, and was guaranteed by Michael that they were friends. During prep, he knew there was more pressure when cooking an entire seating alone, and knew it was not going to be easy, but he had a lot of faith in the red team. During the Pasta Night dinner service, the red team cooked during the first seating, and served during the second. During the first seating, Chris was on the main courses with Elsie. He corrected Elsie when she said two minutes, by saying four minutes for the lasagnas to be ready. Moments later, he was shown to be pretentious with Ramsay after he responded "Oui chef!" to him, which led Ramsay to school him on his behavior and telling him to start paying attention on his cooking. That led him to feel he was only getting targeted because of his Executive Chef position as Ramsay continued to rag on him. During the second seating, he convinced his customers to order lasagna to try to sabotage the blue team. After Ramsay shut down the blue kitchen as the time limit was over, he announced the red team losers as both their service in the dining room and the kitchen were shocking. Michael was named "Best of the Worst". During deliberation, he tried to convince Michael to pick Elsie and Jimmy due to their poor performances that night. Even though he and Michael became friends, Chris was the former's second nominee for elimination, with Elsie being the first. During his plea, he felt his work ethic and devotion to the red team would pay out in the long run. In the end, he was eliminated for failing to live up to his position as an executive chef. During his exit interview, he believed that as an Executive Chef, he deserved to still be around, and felt that Michael took the easy way out. Ramsay's comment: "When you come to the kitchen and announce that you're an executive chef, you expect a little bit more than what I got from Chris. He's been telling the world that he has that amount of knowledge, then he should have been 10 times better." Nomination history Trivia *He is the first male contestant to be named "Best of the Worst", and the first one ever to do so without making it to the black jackets. *He holds the record for the shortest tenure on a team from a contestant who was named "Best of the Worst", after participating in five challenges and five services before being eliminated. *He did not come back for the last dinner service of the season as supposed to, so Wendy took his place. *After his appearance on the show, he returned to his career as an Executive Chef at Rowayton Seafood, in Norwalk, Connecticut. Quotes *"I would rather be on a team of dishwashers... at least, they know how a kitchen works." *"Oui chef!" *(After being eliminated) "I was an executive chef. I worked real hard to get it, and I’m not ashamed of it. I belong there, I belong to be the last one standing, so Michael took the easy way out." Category:Chef Category:Season 1 Category:New Yorkers Category:7th Place